Tally has had many theater influences inside and outside of school. A longtime mentor has been David Lindley, who was the technical director when she performed in her first musical, “Annie.” She has continued to work with him – he is the assistant director for “Peter Pan” – and has gone to him for career advice.

Lindley has been impressed with the dedication Tally always has shown to becoming a professional actress.

“She not only wanted it, she wanted to do the work to become it,” he said, referring to all the classes and instructors she has had.

Tally will attend Otterbein University in Ohio next year to pursue a degree in musical theater. Afterward, she would like to tour professionally with a musical. But her main goal is big time – Broadway.

To get to Broadway, Tally knows there’s no room for doubt.

“I’ve always been taught, if you can see yourself doing something else than theater, then this is not the career you should be taking.”

More about Aubree Tally

Musical roles in high school: Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" (2010); Kathy Selden in "Singin' in the Rain" (2011); Velma Kelly in "Chicago" (2012)

Favorite actress: Sutton Foster

Dream roles: "Next to Normal" as either female role; Jo March in "Little Women"; Fiona in "Shrek"

Outside school: Volunteer at the Spectrum program for special needs at the School of Performing Arts in Naperville

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